Modular cooking appliance having a grease shield

ABSTRACT

A modular cooking apparatus is disclosed. The modular cooking apparatus includes a housing for containing a first and second interchangeable cooking modules. The first interchangeable cooking module contains a first oven, and the second interchangeable cooking module contains a second oven. A grease shield is located within the first oven. The second oven is different from the first oven. The modular cooking apparatus also includes a control panel for receiving cooking inputs, a controller for controlling the first and second interchangeable cooking modules, and a single power plug for receiving electrical power from a wall outlet.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/838,540, filed on Apr. 2, 2020, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to cooking appliances in general, and inparticular to a modular cooking appliance having multiple ovens capableof cooking various food types concurrently.

BACKGROUND

In order to cook and serve a wide variety of food items, such as pizzas,bakery products, breakfast sandwiches, proteins, etc., food-serviceoperators generally have to possess different kinds of ovens at the samestore location. Different operating skills are typically required toutilize each of the different kinds of ovens for cooking, and multipleovens tend to occupy valuable countertop spaces and require multipleelectrical power plugs.

The present disclosure provides an improved cooking appliance that canstreamline the cooking task of a food-service operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a modularcooking apparatus includes a housing for containing a first and secondinterchangeable cooking modules. The first interchangeable cookingmodule contains a first oven, and the second interchangeable cookingmodule contains a second oven. A grease shield is located within thefirst oven. The second oven is different from the first oven. Themodular cooking apparatus also includes a control panel for receivingcooking inputs, a controller for controlling the first and secondinterchangeable cooking modules, and a single power plug for receivingelectrical power from a wall outlet.

All features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, furtherobjects, and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference tothe following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment whenread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a modular cooking appliance, inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 1A is an isometric view of the structure of a modular cookingappliance, according to an alternative embodiment;

FIG. 1B is an isometric view of an interchangeable cooking module withinthe modular cooking appliance from FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 1C is an isometric view of a back wall within the interchangeablecooking module from FIG. 1B, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 1D is a top view of a grease shield to be placed within theinterchangeable cooking module from FIG. 1B in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIGS. 2A-2C are cross-sectional views of an impingement oven within themodular cooking appliance from FIG. 1, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the heating and airflow system within theimpingement oven from FIGS. 2A-2C, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a convection oven within the modularcooking appliance from FIG. 1, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a heating and airflow system within theconvection oven from FIG. 4, according to one embodiment; and

FIG. 6A is a front cross-sectional view of a microwave oven within themodular cooking appliance from FIG. 1, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6B is an enlarged isomeric view of a cook rack within the microwaveover from FIG. 6A;

FIGS. 6C-6E are cross-sectional views of a food transport system withinthe microwave oven from FIG. 6A, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a controller for controlling various ovenmodules within the modular cooking appliance from FIG. 1, according toone embodiment;

FIG. 8A shows an example of a Food Entry Table within the modularcooking appliance from FIG. 1;

FIG. 8B shows an example of a Maximum Current Drawn Table within themodular cooking appliance from FIG. 1;

FIG. 8C shows an example of a Current Drawn History Table within themodular cooking appliance from FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for cooking food items via themodular cooking appliance from FIG. 1, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT I. Configuration ofModular Cooking Appliance

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, there isdepicted an isometric view of a modular cooking appliance, in accordancewith one embodiment. As shown, a modular cooking appliance 10 is definedby a housing 11 containing multiple interchangeable cooking modules. Forthe present embodiment, housing 11 includes interchangeable cookingmodules 12 a-12 c, but it is understood by those skilled in the art thatthe number of interchangeable cooking modules within housing 11 can bemore or less than three. Each of interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12c is for receiving an oven. The ovens contained within interchangeablecooking modules 12 a-12 c may be identical or different from each other.For the present embodiment, interchangeable cooking module 12 a containsan impingement oven that may be used to cook pizzas, interchangeablecooking module 12 b contains a convection oven that may be used to cookmore delicate yeast-rising food items such as cinnamon rolls, andinterchangeable cooking module 12 c contains a microwave oven that maybe used to cook hot dogs.

Alternatively, interchangeable cooking module 12 a may contain a firstconvection oven, interchangeable cooking module 12 b may contain asecond convection oven, and interchangeable cooking module 12 c maycontain an impingement oven. Basically, modular cooking appliance 10 maycontain any combination of ovens based on the preferences offood-service operators. Any one of interchangeable cooking modules 12a-12 c contained within modular cooking appliance 10 can be swapped outby field service personnel without disturbing other aspects of modularcooking appliance 10.

For the present embodiment, the heights of interchangeable cookingmodules 12 a-12 c are identical such that the height of housing 11corresponds to a total number of interchangeable cooking modulesinstalled. Alternatively, the heights of interchangeable cooking modules12 a-12 c may vary from each other, depending on the type of ovencontained within. For example, a convection oven that cooks yeast-raisedproducts may be taller than an impingement oven that cooks pizzas.Accordingly, the height of housing 11 will correspond to the totalheight of the ovens contained within.

Interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c include openings 16 a-16 c,respectively, to allow food items to be transported into ovens locatedwithin interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c.

Modular cooking appliance 10 includes a common control panel 17 forcontrolling all the various ovens and food loading mechanisms containedwithin interchangeable cooking module 12 a-12 c. Each of the foodloading mechanisms allows food items to be loaded within a cookingchamber of a respective oven. After food items have been placed on afood loading mechanism, an operator can enter operating parameters, suchas cooking temperature, cooking time, blower speed, etc., via controlpanel 17 to effectuate cooking controls on the food items to be cooked,and the food loading mechanism will automatically transport the fooditems into the oven to begin cooking.

Alternatively, food items can be manually placed within a cookingchamber of an oven by an operator, without using a food loadingmechanism or when there is no food loading mechanism attached to anoven.

Control panel 17 is preferably implemented with a touch-screen but itcan also be implemented with keypads and liquid crystal display (LCD)that are well-known in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, there is depicted an isometric view of thestructure of modular cooking appliance 10, in accordance with analternative embodiment. As shown, a modular cooking appliance 10′ isdefined by a housing 11′ containing interchangeable cooking modules 12a-12 c. Each of interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c is forreceiving an oven, such as a microwave oven, a convection oven, animpingement oven or the like.

Each of interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c is associated with oneof front-facing slots 14 a-14 c, respectively. Openings 16 a-16 c allowfood items to be transported between ovens located withininterchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c and their associatedfront-facing slots 14 a-14 c. For example, each of front-facing slots 14a-14 c may contain a food loading mechanism for transporting food placedthereon to ovens contained within adjacent interchangeable cookingmodules 12 a-12 c via corresponding openings 16 a-16 c, respectively.Specifically, food placed on a food loading mechanism contained infront-facing slot 14 a will be transported into an oven contained ininterchangeable cooking module 12 a, food placed on a food loadingmechanism contained in front-facing slot 14 b will be transported intoan oven contained in interchangeable cooking module 12 b, and foodplaced on a food loading mechanism contained in front-facing slot 14 cwill be transported into an oven contained in interchangeable cookingmodule 12 c. After food has been cooked, the food can be returned by thefood loading mechanism back to the front-facing slot from which itentered the associated oven.

Modular cooking appliance 10′ includes a common control panel 17′ forcontrolling all the various ovens and food loading mechanisms containedwithin interchangeable cooking module 12 a-12 c and front-facing slot 14a-14 c, respectively.

A. Interchangeable Cooking Module

The basic construction of interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c aresubstantially identical to each other. Thus, the basic construction ofonly interchangeable cooking module 12 a will be further described indetails.

With reference now to FIG. 1B, there is illustrated an isometric view ofinterchangeable cooking module 12 a, in accordance with one embodiment.As shown, interchangeable cooking module 12 a includes a space forcontaining an oven (not shown) and two openings, such as openings 16 aand 16 a′, on both ends of the space for containing an oven. Along thelongitudinal axis, the upper half of interchangeable cooking module 12 ais substantially identical to the lower half of interchangeable cookingmodule 12 a such that either opening 16 a or opening 16 a′ can be usedfor passage of food items, depending on the orientation ofinterchangeable cooking module 12 a within housing 11. During assembly,one of openings 16 a and 16 a′ can be closed up with a back wall (seeFIG. 1C), after the orientation of interchangeable cooking module 12 awithin housing 11 has been decided.

The top and bottom of interchangeable cooking module 12 a are formed byinsulating surfaces 18. Insulating surfaces 18 include a fillingenvelope that can be filled with a substance of high specific-heat. Forexample, after an oven has been placed within interchangeable cookingmodule 12 a, a liquid containing a high specific-heat substance insuspension, such as sand or salt suspended in silicone, can be injectedinto the filling envelope within insulating surfaces 18 until insulatingsurfaces 18 are fully expanded into the space between insulatingsurfaces 18 and the oven. Heat energy is stored in the highspecific-heat substance when the oven is being heated.

Referring now to FIG. 1C, there is illustrated an isometric view of aback wall within interchangeable cooking module 12 a from FIG. 1B, inaccordance with one embodiment. As shown, a back wall includes a set ofconnectors 15-1 to 15-6. During assembly, an oven module to be placedwithin interchangeable cooking module 12 a is fully seeded therein inorder to achieve a connection between a subset of connectors 15-1 to15-6 and the oven module. Each oven type includes a specific set ofelectrical connectors to be mated with the corresponding ones ofconnectors 15-1 to 15-6 in order to activate the proper electrical andcontrol network for the operations of the oven. For example, animpingement oven includes electrical connectors for mating withconnectors 15-1 and 15-4, a convection oven includes electricalconnectors for mating with connectors 15-2 and 15-5, and a microwaveoven includes electrical connectors for mating with connectors 15-3 and15-6.

Referring now to FIG. 1D, there is illustrated a top view of a greaseshield, in accordance with one embodiment. As shown, a grease shield S1includes a left wall S1 a, a right wall S1 b and a back wall S1 c, allconnecting to each other to form an U-shape shield. At least one ofleft, right and back walls Sla-S1 c includes multiple small openings forreturn air to pass. Left wall S1 a and back wall S1 c of grease shieldS1 are joined at an angle θ between 90° and 105°. Similarly, right wallS1 b and back wall S1 c of grease shield S1 are joined at an angle θbetween 90° and 105°.

Grease shield S1 can be placed inside an oven within an interchangeablecooking module, such as interchangeable cooking module 12 a from FIG.1B. The purpose of grease shield S1 is to prevent grease from food fromhitting the walls of oven chamber during cooking. Thus, grease shield S1should be placed inside an oven chamber located within aninterchangeable cooking module before cooking begins. Grease shield S1can be removed from the oven chamber at any time for cleaning.

B. Impingement Oven

With reference now to FIGS. 2A-2C, there are depicted cross-sectionalviews of an impingement oven within interchangeable cooking module 12 aof modular cooking appliance from FIG. 1, in accordance with oneembodiment. As shown, an impingement oven 20 includes a housing 21 foraccommodating a cavity 29 and a cavity opening 28. Impingement oven 20also includes a substantially planar food loading platform 23. Foodloading platform is configured to receive a cooking plate 25. Any fooditem intended to be cooked by impingement oven 20 is initially placed oneither cooking plate 25 or food loading platform 23. When food items arebeing cooked, food loading platform 23 and cooking plate 25 are locatedinside cooking cavity 29, as shown in FIG. 2C.

In addition, housing 21 also contains a top plenum 35 and a bottomplenum 38. Top plenum 35 is connected to top air inlet plate 34. Bottomplenum 38 is connected to a bottom air inlet plate 37. Top air inletplate 34, top plenum 35, bottom air inlet plate 37 and bottom plenum 38are part of the heating and airflow system for impingement oven 20 suchthat heated air in top plenum 35 and bottom plenum 38 are in gaseouscommunication with cavity 29 through top air inlet plate 34 and bottomair inlet plate 37, respectively. Top air inlet plate and bottom airinlet plate 37 include multiple openings for directing hot pressuredairstream towards any food items placed on food loading platform 23located within cavity 29. It is understood by those skilled in the artthat top plenum 35 or bottom plenum 38 could be in gaseous communicationwith cavity 29 via a variety of air opening configurations such ascircular openings, nozzles, tubes, rectangular openings and the like.Moreover, air can enter cavity 29 through only one of top plenum 35 orbottom plenum 38.

Impingement oven 20 is also associated with a food transport system 22.As shown, food transport system 22 includes food loading platform 23connected to a food transport carriage c1 via a connector 27. Foodloading platform 23 can be transported in and out of cooking cavity 29by a belt drive mechanism that includes a belt b1, a belt drive wheel w1that is driven by a belt drive motor m1 and an opposing belt wheel w2.Belt b1 is connected to carriage c1 via belt locks BL1 and BL2. Carriagec1 is connected to carriage skids s1. For the present embodiment, thereare four carriage skids connected to carriage c1, with two frontcarriage skids s1, as shown in FIG. 2A, and two back carriage skids (notshown) on the opposing side of carriage c1. Belt b1 moves between frontcarriage skids s1 and back carriage skids. When belt drive motor m1 isengaged, belt b1 moves carriage c1, thereby transporting food loadingplatform 23 in and out of cooking cavity 29 through opening 28, as shownin FIG. 2B.

During the cooking process, food loading platform 23 may be moved to andfro, about 1″, for promoting food cooking evenness. In order to movefood loading platform 23 to and fro without air escaping through opening28 during the cooking process, door dl must be sufficiently thick tosubstantially block air from escaping through opening 28 at eitherextreme of the to and fro motion.

Operating parameters for impingement oven 20 to cook any food itemsplaced on cooking plate 25 to be carried into cooking cavity 29 can beentered via control panel 17 (from FIG. 1).

With reference now to FIG. 3, there is depicted a diagram of the heatingand airflow system within impingement oven 20, in accordance with oneembodiment. Air within cooking cavity 29 is initially pumped in to aheater plenum 31 via an intake opening 30. Heater plenum 31 includes abase heater 39 a and a boost heater 39 b. After air has beensufficiently heated by base heater 39 a and boost heater 39 b, theheated air is then directed to top plenum 35 via a top blower 32 and toa bottom plenum 38 via a bottom blower 33. During cooking, base heater39 a is usually turned on, and boost heater 39 b is only activated whennecessary. The pressurized hot air formed within top plenum 35 issubsequently directed to cavity 29 via multiple openings located on topair inlet plate 34 (from FIGS. 2A-2C). Similarly, pressurized hot airformed within bottom plenum 38 is subsequently directed to cavity 29 viamultiple nozzles located on bottom air inlet plate 37 (from FIGS.2A-2C). Although heated air is shown to be sent to top air plenum 35 andbottom plenum 38 via separate blowers, it is understood by those skilledin the art that heated air can be sent to both top plenum 35 and bottomplenum 38 via a single blower.

C. Convection Oven

With reference now to FIG. 4, there is depicted an isometric view of aconvection oven within slot 12 b of modular cooking appliance 10 fromFIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment. As shown, a convection oven40 includes a housing having a cooking cavity 49 defined by a top airinlet plenum 41, a bottom air inlet plenum 42, a rear wall 43, and twoside walls 44 a, 44 b. Located on one or more of side walls 44 a, 44 band rear wall 43 are return air openings, such as openings 45 a, forreturning air to a blower system (not shown). Preferably, convectionoven 40 also includes a food loading mechanism similar to food loadingmechanism 22 shown in FIGS. 2A-2C.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is depicted a cross-sectional view of aheating and airflow system within convection oven 40, in accordance withone embodiment. As shown, a blower 51 is preferably located at the rearof convection oven 40. Heated air from a heater (not shown) is directedby blower 51 over triangular air diverter 52 that separates the airexiting blower 51 into top and bottom airstreams flowing through top andbottom air inlet plenums 41 and 42 and into cooking cavity 49 throughtop and bottom convection plates 45 and 46. After transferring heat fromthe heated air to food placed in cooking cavity 49, the air is drawnthrough return a return air path.

An operator can enter commands, such as cooking temperature, cookingtime, fan speed, etc., via control panel 17 (from FIG. 1) to effectuatecooking controls on any food items placed within cooking cavity 49 ofconvection oven 40.

D. Hot Air Oven with a Built-in Magnetron

With reference now to FIG. 6A, there is illustrated a cross-sectionalview of a hot air oven having a built-in magnetron withininterchangeable cooking module 12 c of modular cooking appliance 10 fromFIG. 1, according to one embodiment. As shown, a hot air oven 60includes a cooking chamber 69 and at least one magnetron 81 configuredto generate microwave radiation for cooking chamber 69. Hot air oven 60may also include a second magnetron (not shown) that may be activatedconcurrently with, or independently from magnetron 81. In someembodiments, hot air oven 60 further includes a waveguide 82 configuredto direct and/or distribute the microwave radiation generated bymagnetron 81 into cooking chamber 69.

In addition, hot air oven 60 includes a blower 83 for providing air flowto facilitate hot air cooking within cooking chamber 69. In a preferredembodiment, multiple air guides 84 a direct heated air in a horizontaldirection, as depicted by an arrow a1, through a horizontal plenum 84 bwhere a portion of the air is directed through openings 84 c in a jetplate 84 d, while the remainder of the air is directed through avertical plenum 84 e and through a bottom air opening 84 f located atthe bottom of cooking chamber 69. The air passing through bottom airopening 84 f moves in the opposite horizontal direction of the airpassing through horizontal plenum 84 b as depicted by an arrow a2beneath a cook rack 85 that supports food and includes multiple airdeflectors 86 having different lengths. An enlarged isomeric view ofcook rack 85 is shown in FIG. 6B.

Air moves in a horizontal direction below cook rack 85. The anglesbetween air deflectors 86 and cook rack 85 are less than 90° withrespect to the oncoming horizontally moving air. The length of airdeflectors 86 further from the source of the horizontally moving air isgreater than the length of air deflectors 86 nearest the source ofhorizontally moving air. The air passing through air deflectors 86 isdirected upwards as depicted by an arrow a3, then through return airopenings 84 i back towards blower 83.

With reference now to FIGS. 6C-6E, there is illustrated cross-sectionalviews of a food transport and cooking evenness mechanism for microwaveoven 60, according to one embodiment. As shown, a platform 63 isconnected to a food transport carriage c1 via a connector 67. Platform63 can be transported in and out of cooking cavity 69 by a belt drivemechanism that includes a belt b1, a belt drive wheel w1 that is drivenby a belt drive motor m1 and an opposing belt wheel w2. Carriage c1 isconnected to carriage skids s1. For the present embodiment, there arefour carriage skids connected to carriage c1, with two front carriageskids s1, as shown in FIG. 6B, and two back carriage skids (not shown)on the opposing side of carriage c1. Belt b1 moves between frontcarriage skids s1 and back carriage skids. When belt drive motor m1 isengaged, belt b1 moves carriage c1, thereby transporting platform 63 inand out of cooking cavity 69 through opening 68, as shown in FIG. 6B.

Food surface 64 a is connected to and supported by skids 65 which reston platform 63. Food may be placed directly on food surface 64 a orpreferably on a dish or plate (not shown) which is then placed on foodsurface 64 a. Food surface 64 a is connected to crank-and-cam mechanism62 via rod 64 b which penetrates door 66 a and door shunt 66 b.

During cooking, as shown in FIGS. 6D-6E, food surface 64 a may be movedto and fro within cooking chamber 69 for promoting food cookingevenness. In order to move food surface 64 a to and fro within cookingchamber 69, a motor 61 and a crank-and-cam mechanism 62 are utilized tomove a rod 64 b connected to food surface 64 a. Motor 61 is locatedoutside an oven door formed by an external cover 66 a and an internalcover 66 b. External cover 66 a and internal cover 66 b are specificallydesigned to prevent microwave radiation from escaping through opening 68during the cooking process. Two small concentric openings, which areapproximately 0.3 inch in diameter, are provided in external cover 66 aand internal cover 66 b to allow rod 64 b to go through. The wavelengthof microwaves is approximately 12 cm, and the diameter of each of thetwo small concentric openings needs to be small enough to preventmicrowave radiation from escaping through the openings. During thecooking process, crank-and-cam mechanism 62 translates the rotationalmovement from motor 61 into a linear reciprocating movement to move foodsurface 64 a to and fro within cooking chamber 69. Food surface 64 a canbe moved on top of platform 63 via skids 65.

For the present embodiment, motor 61 and crank-and-cam mechanism 62 areutilized to translate a rotational movement to a linear reciprocatingmovement. It is understood by those skilled in the art that othermechanisms can be utilized to translate a rotational movement to alinear reciprocating movement, or to provide a linear reciprocatingmovement directly.

Operating parameters for microwave oven 60 to cook any food items placedwithin cooking cavity 69 can be entered via control panel 17 (from FIG.1).

II. Controller

Modular cooking appliance 10 may include various oven types, but it isalso able to be powered by a single-phase 50-Amp outlet as sole powersource via a single power plug. Thus, modular cooking appliance 10 canbe employed by any food service establishments without additionalmodification to the commonly found single-phase 50-Amp outlets.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is depicted a block diagram of acontroller for controlling various oven modules within modular cookingappliance 10, according to one embodiment. As shown, a controller 70includes a processor 71, a multiplexor 72, a memory and control modules74 a-74 c. Memory 73 includes random-access memories and read-onlymemories that are non-erasable as well as electronically programmable.Software and data related to the operations of modular cooking appliance10 are stored within memory 73. Control module 74 a is associated withinterchangeable cooking module 12 a (from FIG. 1A), control module 74 bis associated with interchangeable cooking module 12 b, and controlmodule 74 c is associated with interchangeable cooking module 12 c.During operation, control modules 74 a-74 c monitor the real-timecurrent consumption of interchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c,respectively, and distribute current from a power supply 75 tointerchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c and the associated ovens, asneeded.

All ovens within modular cooking appliance 10 that cook with hot air,such as impingement oven 20 and convection oven 40, are provided with abase heater and at least one boost heater. For example, impingement oven20 includes base heater 39 a and boost heater 39 b (see FIG. 3). Allovens within modular cooking appliance 10 that cook with microwaves,such as microwave oven 60, are provided with at least one magnetron. Forexample, microwave oven 60 includes magnetron 61 (see FIG. 6). Ifmicrowave oven 60 is provided with a second magnetron, it may beactivated independently from magnetron 61.

III. Adaptive Power Management

As mentioned above, modular cooking appliance 10 is configured withimpingement oven 20, convection oven 40 and microwave oven 60, for thepresent embodiment, with all the ovens operating from a single-phase50-Amp outlet commonly found in commercial kitchens. However, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that modular cooking appliance 10 mayhave any number and types of ovens all powered by a single power plug.For the present embodiment, the maximum current drawn by each ofimpingement oven 20, convection oven 40 and microwave oven 60 are asfollows:

component max. current drawn impingement oven 20 base heater  8 Ampsfirst boost heater 12 Amps second boost heater 12 Amps convection oven40 base heater  4 Amps first boost heater 12 Amps second boost heater 12Amps microwave oven 60 first magnetron  8 Amps second magnetron  8 AmpsIn addition, the baseline current drawn by all the ancillary components(such as processor 71, multiplexor 72, memory 73, etc.) within modularcooking appliance 10 during operation is 5 Amps. Thus, with a 50-Amppower source, a maximum of (50−5=) 45 Amps current is available forpowering ovens at any given time.

Needless to say, there are many benefits if more than one oven withinmodular cooking appliance 10 can be utilized to cook food items at thesame time. However, as shown above, the maximum current drawn byimpingement oven 20 is (8+12+12=) 32 Amps, and the maximum current drawnby convection oven 40 is (4+12+12=) 28 Amps. Thus, it is not possible touse both impingement oven 20 and convection oven 40 for cooking fooditems at the same time because the total current drawn by the two ovens(and all the ancillary components) would exceed the 50-Amp limitation.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned 50-Amp barrier, modular cookingappliance 10 employs Adaptive Power Management™ (APM) technology tointelligently allocate current to each of the ovens such that multipleovens can be utilized for cooking food items concurrently during some ofthe time. There are two control modes under APM, namely,temperature-control mode and time-control mode.

A. Temperature-Control Mode

When cooking a food item under temperature-control mode, the oventemperature is monitored, and a temperature-control feedback loop isutilized to control the oven temperature for cooking the food item.Specifically, the base and boost heaters within an associated oven areturned on when the measured oven temperature drops below a set cooktemperature, and the base and boost heaters within the associated ovenare turned off when the measured oven temperature is at or above the setcook temperature.

During temperature-control mode, the amount of time an oven is turned onand the associated current drawn during the cook cycle are recorded andstored in a Current Drawn History Table (more details below) to be usedin time-control mode described below, when necessary.

B. Time-Control Mode

When cooking a food item under time-control mode, the oven temperatureand time for cooking the food item are guided by the informationpreviously stored in a Current Drawn History Table (more details below).Specifically, the base and boost heaters within an associated oven areallocated the power during each time unit that was consumed by that ovenfor cooking the same food item when operating under temperature-controlmode, as recorded in the Current Drawn History Table.

IV. Control Tables

The following three control tables are utilized by modular cookingappliance 10 to perform APM during various cook cycles. The controltables can be stored in memory 73 (from FIG. 7), and the informationwithin some of the control tables will be updated throughout the courseof operating modular cooking appliance 10.

A. Food Entry Table

Before modular cooking appliance 10 can be deployed for cookingdifferent types of food items, information regarding these food itemshas to be entered and stored (i.e., pre-programmed) in a Food EntryTable (FET) within memory 73. The FET contains a list of all the fooditems that can be cooked via the various ovens within modular cookingappliance 10 and their respective optimal cook settings. Basically, foreach food item intended to be cooked via modular cooking appliance 10,an operator needs to enter into the FET a food item name, an oven typeand cook settings (such as cook time, blower speed, cook temperature,etc.) that are associated with the food item.

With reference now to FIG. 8A, there is depicted an example FET,according to one embodiment. In this FET example, four types of fooditems are listed, namely, pizza, sandwich, biscuits and hot dog. Inaddition, three separate cook stages are shown, and each cook stagecontains cook settings such as start and stop times, cook temperature,blower speed and magnetron power level. Specifically, entry one andentry two include the cook settings for cooking pizza and sandwich,respectively, in an impingement oven (such as impingement oven 20).Entry three includes the cook settings for cooking biscuits in aconvection oven (such as convection oven 40) and entry four includes thecook settings for cooking hot dog in a microwave oven (such as microwaveoven 60).

For each of entry one through entry three, when the corresponding cooksettings are deployed, the ovens will be engaged in hot air cooking, asindicated by the associated air temperatures and blower speeds. Forentry four, when that cook setting is deployed, the microwave oven willbe engaged in microwave cooking, as indicated by a magnetron settinggreater than zero in stages 1 and 3.

B. Maximum Current Drawn Table

The Maximum Current Drawn Table contains the maximum current requiredfor each of impingement oven 20, convection oven 40 and microwave oven60 to cook various food items, corresponding to the food item liststored in the FET.

With reference now to FIG. 8B, there is depicted an example MaximumCurrent Drawn Table. As shown, the Maximum Current Drawn Table includesan oven module column, a food name column, and multiple cook stagecolumns. In this example, entry one includes the maximum current drawnby impingement oven 20 for cooking pizza for a duration of 90 seconds,which corresponds to entry one of the FET from FIG. 8A. Entry twoincludes the maximum current drawn by impingement oven 20 for cookingsandwich for a duration of 70 seconds, which corresponds to entry two ofthe FET from FIG. 8A. Entry three includes the maximum current drawn byconvection oven 40 for cooking biscuits for a duration of 120 seconds,which corresponds to entry three of the FET from FIG. 8A. Entry fourincludes the maximum current drawn by microwave 60 for cooking hot dogfor a duration of 90 seconds, which corresponds to entry four of the FETfrom FIG. 8A.

The information stored in the Maximum Current Drawn Table will beutilized to assist in the determination of whether or not a cook processshould start when two or more ovens are called for cooking food itemsunder temperature-control mode (as will be further explained in FIG. 9).

C. Current Drawn History Table

The Current Drawn History Table contains the current drawn by each ofimpingement oven 20 and convection oven 40 when it is engaged forcooking each type of food items under temperature-control mode per cookcycle.

With reference now to FIG. 8C, there is depicted an example CurrentDrawn History Table. As shown, the Current Drawn History Table includesan oven module column, a food name column, and multiple time unitcolumns. Each of the time units (time unit 1 to time unit 8 in thisexample) are identical in the length of time, and each time unit can beone second, two seconds, etc., depending the time resolution requiredand the memory available within modular cooking appliance 10. Thecurrent drawn by each of impingement oven 20 and convection oven 40 whenit is engaged for cooking a specific food item is recorded and stored invarious time units accordingly throughout its entire cook cycle.

The current drawn value recorded in each time unit can be a runningaverage of the current drawn of the most recent 10 cooks of each fooditem. For example, the 3.2 Amps current drawn value in time unit 1 is arunning average of the current drawn of the most recent cooks of pizzain time unit 1 by impingement oven 20. An operator can change the numberof cooks for calculating the running average, and more than 10 cooks canbe utilized to calculate the running average, depending on the accuracyneeded.

Basically, modular cooking appliance 10 learns how much current wasrecently required in each time unit to cook each food item type in eachof impingement oven 20 and convection oven 40 when cooking undertemperature-control mode.

It is expected that the current drawn value recorded in each time unitmay be drastically different even for the same oven, depending on thegeographic location of the oven. For example, the current drawn valuesfor an oven located in Denver, Colo. is expected to be significantlyhigher than the same oven located in Dallas, Tex. Thus, before theCurrent Drawn History Table can be fully deployed for regular day-to-dayoperations, it has to be initialized and populated with some actualhistoric current drawn values by performing a minimum number ofpre-cooks, such as 3, on location.

The information stored in the Current Drawn History Table will beutilized to assist in the determination of whether or not a cook processshould be started when two or more ovens are called for cooking fooditems (as will be further explained in FIG. 9).

In addition, for each time unit, the activation status of the associatedbase heater and boost heater (not shown) can also be recorded and storedin the corresponding entry of the Current Drawn History Table.

IV. Cooking Process

With reference now to FIG. 9, there is depicted a flow diagram of amethod for cooking food items via modular cooking appliance 10,according to one embodiment. The ovens within modular cooking appliance10 depends on the user configuration, but for the present embodiment,the ovens are impingement oven 20, convection oven 40 and microwave oven60. After an operator has selected a food item to be cooked from a listof food items (i.e., food items stored in a FET from FIG. 8) shown ondisplay 17 (from FIG. 1), as shown in block 90, a determination is madewhether or not any of the ovens is currently being engaged in cookingfood items, as shown in block 91.

If none of the ovens is currently engaged in cooking food items, thentemperature-control mode will be utilized for controlling the oventemperature of the selected oven to cook the selected food itemthroughout the entire cook process, as depicted in block 92. The cookcycle will be guided by the information stored within the FET.

However, if one (or more) oven is currently being engaged in cookingfood items, then another determination is made whether or not the totalcurrent demand by the selected oven and the engaged oven (as well as theauxiliary components) to cook respective food items will exceed the50-Amp limitation anytime during their entire respective cook cycleunder temperature-control mode, as shown in block 93. This determinationis made by looking up the Maximum Current Drawn Table to determine ifthe sum of the current drawn by the selected oven and the engaged oven(as well as the auxiliary components) for cooking their respective fooditem will exceed the 50-Amp limitation in any of the time units, for thesame ovens cooking the same food types. If not, then the selected ovenis allowed to cook the selected food immediately, andtemperature-control mode can continually be used to control the oventemperature of the two ovens throughout the entire cook cycle, asdepicted in block 92.

If the total current demand by the selected oven and the engaged oven(as well as the auxiliary components) to cook respective food itemsexceeds the 50-Amp limitation, then all the ovens will be set to usetime-control mode for controlling oven temperature throughout the entirecook cycle, as depicted in block 94. In other words, any oven that isusing temperature-control mode at the time will be switched to usetime-control mode to complete the cook process.

For example, if a pizza is currently being cooked in impingement oven20, and an operator wants to cook a biscuit in convection oven 40 at thesame time, controller 70 checks the maximum current drawn by impingementoven 20 when cooking a pizza and the maximum current drawn by convectionoven 40 when cooking a biscuit, by using the Maximum Current DrawnTable. In this example, the maximum current drawn by impingement oven 20when cooking a pizza is 32 Amps, and the maximum current drawn byconvection oven 40 when cooking a biscuit is 28 Amps, with a totalmaximum current drawn being (32+28=) 60 Amps, which means the cookingcontrol within impingement oven 20 will be switched to time-controlmode.

Next, a determination is made whether or not the total current demand bythe selected oven and the engaged oven (as well as the auxiliarycomponents) to cook respective food items will exceed the 50-Amplimitation anytime in any of the time units during their entirerespective cook process under time-control mode, as shown in block 95.This determination is made by looking up the Current Drawn History Tableto determine if the sum of the current drawn by the selected oven andthe engaged oven (as well as the auxiliary components) does not exceedthe 50-Amp limitation in each and every time unit throughout the entirecook cycle.

If the total current demand by the selected oven and the engaged oven(as well as the auxiliary components) to cook respective food itemsexceeds the 50-Amp limitation in any of the time units during theirentire respective cook process under time-control mode, the selectedoven has to wait until the total historic current drawn in eachsubsequent time unit is Amps or less before it can start its cookprocess. Otherwise, if the total current demand does not exceed the50-Amp limitation in any of the time units, both the selected oven andthe engaged oven proceed with respective cooking under time-controlmode.

For example, Table I (a portion of a Current Drawn History Table) showsit takes five time units for impingement oven 20 to cook a pizza, andthe current drawn during the first to fifth time units are 20, 32, 32,32 and 8 Amps, respectively. On the other hand, it takes three timeunits for convection oven 40 to cook a biscuit, and the current drawnduring the first to third time units are 28, 16 and 16 Amps,respectively.

TABLE I time unit 1 time unit 2 time unit 3 time unit 4 time unit 5pizza 20 32 32 32 8 biscuit 28 16 16In this example, convection oven 40 can start cooking the biscuit intime unit 5 while the pizza is being cooked in impingement oven 20. Thisis because the current drawn by the two ovens and auxiliary componentsexceeds the 50-Amp limitation if biscuits begin cooking in any of timeunits 1-4 but not in time unit 5.

V. Uniform Operating Steps for Operators

The operating procedure is the same for all the ovens within modularcooking appliance 10.

For the present embodiment, modular cooking appliance 10 entersoperating mode upon completion of oven startup, during which each ofimpingement oven 20, convection oven 40 and microwave oven 60 warm up totheir preset operating temperatures. Once in operating mode, a listingof the various food items for which operating parameters have beenentered via control panel 17 is displayed on control panel 17. Anoperator can select the food item to be cooked from among the itemsdisplayed on control panel 17 and places the food on a food loadingmechanism of the corresponding oven. The food is then transported intothe heated oven cavities for cooking.

After the cook process has been completed, the cooked food istransported from the oven cavities back to where the food entered theassociated oven. The food loading mechanisms are not themselves heated,effectively concluding the cook process once the food exits the heatedoven cavities. However, because the food loading mechanisms are adjacentto the heated oven cavities contained in interchangeable cooking modules12 a-12 c, residual heat from the heated oven cavities contained ininterchangeable cooking modules 12 a-12 c serves to reduce the rate ofheat loss experienced by the recently cooked food.

Food items may be concurrently cooked in impingement oven 20, convectionoven 40 and microwave oven 60 of modular cooking appliance 10. Similarfood items may be consecutively cooked in impingement oven 20,convection oven 40 and microwave oven 60 of modular cooking appliance10. For example, pizzas may be cooked back to back to back inimpingement oven 20 while cinnamon rolls are being cooked back to backto back in convection oven 40 while breakfast sandwiches are beingcooked back to back to back in microwave oven 60. In order for theamount of heat energy delivered to the similar food items cookedconsecutively in the various ovens to be the same in each of the back toback to back cooks when modular cooking appliance 10 is powered by anelectric circuit of no more wattage than a typical single-phase 50-Ampoutlet, the volumes of the cook cavities held within interchangeablecooking modules 12 a-12 c are no larger than 1.5 cubic feet for theconvection oven, 1.25 cubic feet for the impingement oven and 1 cubicfeet for the microwave oven.

As has been described, the present invention provides a modular cookingappliance having multiple ovens.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A modular cooking apparatus, comprising: a housing having a firstinterchangeable cooking module and a second interchangeable cookingmodule; a first oven contained within said first interchangeable cookingmodule; a first grease shield located within said first oven; a secondoven contained within said second interchangeable cooking module,wherein said second oven is different from said first oven; a controlpanel on said housing for receiving cooking inputs; a controller withinsaid housing for controlling said first and second interchangeablecooking modules; and a single power plug for receiving electrical powerfrom a wall outlet.
 2. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 1, whereinsaid first grease shield includes a first wall, a second wall and a backwall.
 3. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 2, wherein an innerangle between said first wall and said back wall is between 90° and105°.
 4. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 3, wherein an innerangle between said second wall and said back wall is between 90° and105°.
 5. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 2, wherein one of saidfirst, second and back walls includes multiple opening for return air topass through.
 6. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidmodular cooking apparatus further includes a second grease shieldlocated within said second oven.
 7. The modular cooking apparatus ofclaim 6, wherein said second grease shield includes a first wall, asecond wall and a back wall.
 8. The modular cooking apparatus of claim7, wherein an inner angle between said first wall and said back wall isbetween 90° and 105°.
 9. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 8,wherein an inner angle between said second wall and said back wall isbetween 900 and 105°.
 10. The modular cooking apparatus of claim 7,wherein one of said first, second and back walls includes multipleopening for return air to pass through.